8/29/10 – 8/30/10 (vientiane)
Annie Lin
Vientiane
After a good night’s sleep to rejuvenate ourselves from our bus trip we set out to find a more wallet-friendly hotel. A hotel we visited recommended their sister hotel that just opened a month ago called Mixay Paradise. It was a lot cheaper than the hotel we stayed in the previous night so we decided to switch. Pink was their color of choice as our walls and curtains were all pink. We also noticed an overabundance of staff who were eager to help with anything you may need. There were two guys whose job appeared to swat at the flies. To our surprise we ran into the Swiss guys we met on our boat ride to Muang Ngoi and they were also staying at Mixay Paradise.
We explored the surrounding area and had lunch at a Scandinavian bakery that also had a branch in Luang Prabang. Vientiane being the capital is a bigger than Luang Prabang with more of a big city feel and modern buildings. It possessed a French colonial influence but didn’t have the old world charm of Luang Prabang. During our stroll around town visited every bookshop within a few kilometers of our hotel hoping to exchange two books. Unfortunately we had no luck but instead gained another book, the Lonely Planet guidebook for Vietnam.
One night we visited the Lane Xang Hotel where the Loa National Theater held nightly performances of traditional dance and music. It was held in a huge dining hall and there was a big group of Vietnamese tourists enjoying the show. The dancers wore traditional costumes and their dance style is very similar to Cambodian music videos we saw on our bus trips around Cambodia. In between the dance performances there were singing. The Vietnamese tourists really enjoyed the singing and at one point a man took a flower from his table to present to the singer and then was encouraged to sing on stage with the female singer. Another highlight was the 16-year old girl who contorted her body into all different shapes. I think she has a bright future with the Cirque de Soliel. The evening ended with a man who did all kinds of birdcalls. Apparently he is the only performer with such talent among the six million Laos.
On our last night in Vientiane we had dinner with a Swiss couple we met on the same boat ride. We ran into them at Vang Vieng but didn’t get to hang out with them and coincidentally saw them again in the lobby of our hotel. They were also staying at the popular Mixay Paradise. We joke that Jon found Swiss Kyle since Niels, the Swiss guy, looks like our friend Kyle from back home. We had a great meal with them and swapped funny travel stories. It was a nice way to end our trip to the capital.
Reader Comments (1)